Our national antipathy towards our neighbour was in the headlines again last week when Piers Morgan clashed with Lorraine Kelly on breakfast TV after she said she would be rooting for Iceland.

Scotland and England fans in London's Trafalgar Square ahead of their game in 2016 (Image: Daily Record)

The Sunday Mail put the burning question to other famous Scots: England or Anyone But England?

FOR

Former Chelsea and Scotland star Pat Nevin is in Russia as a pundit for Radio 5 Live

(Image: Getty)

I’m agnostic on the issue. If they have a really good team and are playing really stylish football, then yeah, I’d like them to win.

If they happen to be playing against a team who are better than them at that sort of style, I want that team to win.

It is nothing to do with the country and everything to do with the style.

I spend a bit of time in England so I have no bad feeling towards them. I’m certainly not in the ‘I’ll support anyone else but’ camp – but then I’m not a mad supporter either.

Having lived in England, there is nowhere near the same animosity back. They don’t look that way upon us. The vast majority of English people I know are very fond of Scotland and want us to win.

They’ll say, ‘You’ll be wanting England to get beaten.’ And I’m always taken aback by it because they think that we all think that way. We don’t.

I won’t have a St George’s flag out and be waving it but I’m happy for friends if they do well. I’m not anti in any way.

AGAINST

Legendary commentator Archie Macpherson

Archie MacPherson thinks we should be more sophisticated and appreciate England's talented players (Image: PA)

I’ve always made a separation between the English players, many of whom I admire, and the English press and the media, the over-zealous patriots on the England side. I can understand why it tends to put Scottish people off supporting England.

But I’m a football man. I love good football and, if England play good football, then you just have to accept that. If they don’t and they are put out, then accept that as well.

I won’t be cheering England on but, genuinely, I’ll be cheering on the team who have given me greatest pleasure through the years. I’ve always been a Spain supporter because I simply like the way they play their football.

If England make the final, cheer them on is maybe too strong. Cheer them on? No. But a sophisticated appreciation of success would cover my feelings if they prove themselves good enough to be victorious. Any World Cup winners deserve the utmost respect.

But if they do win, we won’t stop hearing about it until the next century. So Spain are my team.

BBC football anchorman Richard Gordon

Richard Gordon hopes England get put out of World Cup as early as possible (Image: SNS)

I hope it’s a really enjoyable, exciting World Cup – and I hope England’s time in it is kept as short as is humanly possible.

As a kid, England winning the World Cup was before my time but that group of players were still around when I started watching football and at that stage I did identify with a lot of those England heroes.

But as I get older, my view is that it’s not so much the individual players but the whole hoo-ha that surrounds England. The media hype puts me off.

I do like to see English teams do well but, when it comes to the national team, I am very happy to follow the old Andy Murray line of supporting anyone but England. It’s a pure footballing rivalry.

Robin Hood actor Gordon Kennedy

Gordon Kennedy admits he support everyone who’s playing against England at football (Image: BBC)

I’m a massive hypocrite on this because I don’t particularly support England despite making my living down here.

Generally, in football terms, I support everyone who’s playing against England.

I support England at cricket apart from when they are playing Scotland. In rugby, I’m mixed. I’d quite like to see them beat Australia at the moment but, speaking in terms of football, I tend to support everyone else.

I remember when Strachan got kicked off the park by Uruguay at the 86 World Cup. We had just moved to London and we came back from watching it in the pub a bit despondent.

There was a 20-minute message on the answer phone from a good friend of ours who is English, just saying how sorry he was that we had been knocked out.

And we got so angry because we suddenly realised that our rivalry with England was not reciprocated.

We’re not at this World Cup but at least we’ve beaten England at rugby and cricket so there’s very few sports that they are better at than us at the moment.

ON THE FENCE

Former First Minister Henry McLeish

Henry McLeish insists he would be a neutral if England played Germany (Image: REUTERS)

Asked the direct question who would I cheer on in the World Cup final if England reached it, then may the best team win. I would be looking upon it as a spectacle or a game.

I wouldn’t be cheering England against Germany but neither would I be cheering Germany against England. Essentially, I’d be neutral and what I would want to see after all the Fifa troubles is that we have a great spectacle.

If England look like they’ve got a good side, fine. On the other hand, I don’t think we should be repeating the kind of Bannockburn or Culloden mood every two years.

The game was established in 1872 and there is a very big historical tie that goes back to those early years. But I think in the 60s post-war, it became too much of an outlet. Scotland invested too much emotion into beating the English.

Quite frankly, at the same time, we started to slide down the international rankings.

To me, the energy should be shifted from a focus on England to a focus on, after 20 years, how we get back to international finals.

We should be looking to teams like Iceland and Serbia and downgrade our focus on England. England, as far as football is concerned, is only another country.

I’m not rushing to say I’d like England to win. I don’t see it as an issue because I don’t have any concerns they will because the teams I think will win are Brazil, Germany or Argentina.